A Withered Branch Like Me

I get why they did it, even if I can't forgive. It's so unusual for it to be fake. A kid says something like that, you believe them, 100%.

I remember the day, the moment so clearly. I was stressed about uni. We were waiting on Dad's test results. But it was... OK. Normal.

I close my eyes and see it:

I'm hanging out in a friend's garage. Playing games, rolling joints. The guys trying to act cool around Lyla's wobbly shelf of pale cleavage. Sally thrashing everyone at Super Mario. There's a fug in the air: cigarette smoke, rock music, hormones.

I'm laughing at a joke. My phone rings. It's mum.

"Tom, is there anything you need to tell me?"

Fuck. What have I done?

"This is serious."

I get up and move outside. "Uhhh, mum, I don't... What's this about?"

"It'd be better if you admitted it. About Faye."

"What, my niece?" I'm getting irritated. "I haven't seen her for years."

"She says you... About six years ago. When you were fifteen and she was n-n-nine... She said you-"

[I can't repeat it. Can't pin the words down here. It'd make it... I can't.]

Why's Faye saying this?

"I didn't do it!"

I beg her to believe me, but she says, "Goodbye, Tom," and cuts the call.

They blocked me on everything. Mum, dad, my sister. Aunts, uncles cousins. Declined my calls.

Then, no more normal days. On tenterhooks, waiting for police to call. I drank. Worked dead-end jobs, fucked dead-end hook-ups.

Texts started arriving today. Faye accused someone else, someone who wasn't even in the country when she said it happened. People began questioning what she said about me, and she finally confessed.

Life's moved on for them these eleven years. The family tree grew. Babies born. People living, loving, dying... (Dad, cancer,) while this branch (me) withered. Drifted.

I want to say, "Stay away from me and my (fictional) wife and kids!" Break mum's heart to match mine.

But fuck I'm tired of being alone.

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Word count: (excluding notes): 366

Submitted on: 5th May at 23:34

*Quick Author's Note*

First, and most importantly: thank you for reading!

A Year of Stories: I'm writing a story every day this year. This one makes an 126 day streak since the 1st January.

Please do consider lending your support to the other creators who are also on this madcap "story a day" adventure:

Rachel Deeming

Gerard DiLeo

Important note: false reports are rare, and if a child discloses abuse of any kind, they should be believed and supported completely.

The issue with this scenario is not that the characters believed the girl, which is obviously correct, but the rest of the way they handled it. What should they have done instead? If it had been dealt with differently, would the truth have come out sooner? While Faye's story might not have been wholly true, there might well have been truth in it. Generally, people don't say things like that for no reason. There's always a story behind the story.

Thank you

Thank you again! Especially if you are one of the wonderful people who has been staunchly reading these daily scribbles since the start of the year. I see you, and appreciate you 😁

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